#and then the dialogue is like it was written for five year olds

[lachiennearoo]

Childhood is thinking Les Légendaires is bad because it's gory with cute characters

Adulthood is realizing Les Légendaires is bad because it's written like shit

[sparrow-and-seed-scrawls]

How to Write Strong Dialogue

(from a writer of ten years)

So you’re back in the writing trenches. You’re staring at your computer, or your phone, or your tablet, or your journal, and trying not to lose your mind. Because what comes after the first quotation mark? Nothing feels good.

Don’t worry, friend. I’m your friendly tumblr writing guide and I’m here to help you climb out of the pit of writing despair.

I’ve created a character specifically for this exercise. His name is Amos Alejandro III, but for now we’ll just call him Amos. He’s a thirty-something construction worker with a cat who hates him, and he’s just found out he has to go on a quest across the world to save his mother’s diner.

1.) Consider the Attitude and Characteristics of Your Character

One of the biggest struggles writers face when writing dialogue is keeping characters’ dialogue “in-character”.

You’re probably thinking, “but Sparrow, I’m the creator! None of the dialogue I write can be out of character because they’re my original characters!”

WRONG. (I’m hitting the very loud ‘incorrect’ buzzer in your head right now).

Yes, you created your characters. But you created them with specific characteristics and attitudes. For example, Amos lives alone, doesn’t enjoy talking too much, and isn’t a very scholarly person. So he’s probably not going to say something like “I suggest that we pursue the path of least resistance for this upcoming quest.” He’d most likely say, “I mean, I think the easiest route is pretty self-explanatory.”

Another example is a six-year-old girl saying, “Hi, Mr. Ice Cream Man, do you have chocolate sundaes?” instead of “Hewwo, Ice Cweam Man— Chocowate Sundaes?”

Please don’t put ‘w’s in the middle of your dialogue unless you have a very good and very specific reason. I will cry.

Yes, the girl is young, but she’s not going to talk like that. Most children know how to ask questions correctly, and the ‘w’ sound, while sometimes found in a young child’s speech, does not need to be written out. Children are human.

So, consider the attitude, characteristics, and age of your character when writing dialogue!

2.) Break Up Dialogue Length

If I’m reading a novel and I see an entire page of dialogue without any breaks, I’m sobbing. You’re not a 17th century author with endless punctuation. You’re in the 21st century and people don’t read in the same way they used to.

Break up your dialogue. Use long sentences. Use one word. Use commas, use paragraph breaks. Show a character throwing a chair out a window in between sentences.

For example:

“So, you’re telling me the only way to save my Ma’s diner is to travel across five different continents, find the only remaining secret receipt card, and bring it back before she goes out of business? She didn’t have any other copies? Do I have to leave my cat behind?”

vs.

Amos ran a hand over his face. “So, you’re telling me the only way to save my Ma’s diner is to travel across five different continents, find the only remaining secret recipe card, and bring it back before she goes out of business?”

He couldn’t believe his luck. That was sarcastic, of course. This was ironically horrible.

“She didn’t have any other copies?” He leaned forward over the table and frowned. “Do I have to leave my cat behind?”

The second version is easier to digest, and I got to add some fun description of thought and action into the scene! Readers get a taste of Amos’ character in the second scene, whereas in the first scene they only got what felt like a million words of dialogue.

3.) Don’t Overuse Dialogue Tags.

DON’T OVERUSE DIALOGUE TAGS. DON’T. DON’T DON’T DON’T.

If you don’t know what a dialogue tag is, it’s a word after a sentence of dialogue that attributes that dialogue to a specific character.

For example:

“Orange juice and chicken ramen are good,” he said.

‘Said’ functions as the dialogue tag in this sentence.

Dialogue tags are good. You don’t want to completely avoid them. (I used to pride myself on how I could write stories without any dialogue tags. Don’t do that.) Readers need to know who’s speaking. But overusing them, or overusing weird or unique tags, should be avoided.

Examples:

“I’m gonna have to close my diner,” Amos’ mother said.

“Why?” Amos growled. “It’s been in the family forever.”

“I’ve lost the secret recipe card, and I can’t keep the diner open without it!” she cried.

“The Bacon Burger Extreme recipe card?” Amos questioned.

“Yes!” Amos’ mother screamed.

“Well, that’s not good,” Amos complained.

vs.

“I’m gonna have to close my diner,” Amos’ mother said, taking her son’s hand and leading him over to one of the old, grease-stained tabletops with the ripped-fabric booths.

Amos simply stared at her as they moved. “Why? It’s been in the family forever.”

“I’ve—” she looked away for a moment, then took in a breath. “I’ve lost the secret recipe card. And I can’t keep the diner open without it.”

“The Bacon Burger Extreme recipe card?”

“Yes!” She still wouldn’t meet his eyes, and her shoulders were shaking. “Yes.”

Amos sat down heavily in the booth. “Well, that’s not good.”

The first scene only gives character names and dialogue tags. There are no actions and no descriptions. The second scene, however, gives these things. It gives the reader descriptions of the diner, the characters’ actions, and attitudes. Overusing dialogue tags gets boring fast, so add interest into your writing!

So! When you’re writing, consider the attitude of your character, vary dialogue length, and don’t overuse dialogue tags.

Now climb out of the pit of writing despair. Pick up your pen or computer. And write some good dialogue!

Best,

Sparrow

[waywardsalt]

writing win finally got out of that god damn scene that was going in circles

[rmbunnie]

It's most likely just Starlin trying to get to Jason dying faster because he did not like Robin, but the whole "Jason's spiraling because of his grief for his parents" thing they were trying to spin was honestly really weird, not supported by the rest of the run INCLUDING the parts Starlin wrote, and kinda reads like an unreliable narrator situation because all of the information supporting it is given through Bruce's narration, him speculating on Jason's thoughts and actions.

The plot thread of Jason's grief for his family affecting his behavior shows up like TWO issues after Jason first becomes Robin back when Collins was writing, and gets sorted out after one conversation where Jason gets to confront Bruce about hiding his father's death from him for 6 months. After that Jason is behaving normally until they encounter three predators in a row, and each time Bruce insists that they can't do anything because of The Rules and assorted red tape/diplomatic immunity plotlines. (The sister of a woman who got dismembered actually tricked the violent-misogynist killer who dismembered her sister (and then got his serial killings dismissed through a technicality) into attacking her, and ends up killing him in self-defense, and then Jason's like "seems fair" and Bruce is like "no. it's NOT. we need to follow laws and not take justice into our own hands. which like wtf Bruce! you are a vigilante who just used a custom tank to fight an evil televangelist! who then got ripped to shreds by his followers while you watched!)

Bruce kinda just decides with Alfred that it must be grief upsetting him and not the dozens of brutally killed women and their predatory killers who the law inexplicably protected, (all written by Starlin, so retconning it for DitF like five issues later would be an odd move) but the only text claiming that's why Jason was upset is from Bruce's POV and through Alfred's dialogue. Jason himself doesn't display any signs of grief in the story itself, or even act or speak in a way that alludes to Catherine and Willis beyond looking at a picture of them and smiling fondly while he sorts through their possessions. He kinda just happens upon the box with his mother's info by chance, and is like ok i guess we're doing mom searches now. He was only going for a walk through his old neighborhood, not actively searching out info on his family. When Jason is deciding whether or not to run off without telling Bruce, he considers telling him and then goes "no, all he cares about is being Batman, he wouldn't even understand why I want to see my mom." Which, I mean, "Bruce wouldn't get it" is a REALLY odd angle if the sole motivator for spiraling, then getting benched* and running away to search out his bio-mom, was because he was mourning his dead parents, a thing he notably has in common with Bruce. That statement only really makes sense if he's thinking about a different thing that was greatly upsetting to him that Bruce brushed past, like maybe a combo of hiding the murder of his dad for half a year and allowing several cases involving sexual violence to freely develop body counts in the name of the law.

Lots of people have written about how Jason's stay in the manor might have seemed dependent on being Robin with how he was kinda just scooped up, but (if we're including Detective Comics in our characterization,) Bruce had offered to let him resign from Robin and just live with him (a little late, but still. It's worth noting Batman proper shows Jason afraid and uncomfortable at the thought of Dick taking Robin back, which lends more merit to the housing-dependent-on-Robin-misunderstanding interpretation, but canon is pick and choose anyways.) The lack of trust involved in his choice to search out his mom kinda reads like it was bred by more than that alone, and Bruce's prioritization of the law over the protection of the people it ignores is notably upsetting to him in the prior issues. tbh I really do believe the outcomes of those cases could have informed Jason's stance that Bruce's method of justice is ineffective right alongside his own murder and his experiences in Lost Days.

It would make sense for Bruce to not consider his own actions while he's thinking through things that would upset Jason, because from his point of view the things there that were bothering Jason were the criminals alone, not the way that the methods with which they were approaching their crimes continually led to the perpetrators evading actual justice. During the point in DitF where he's thinking through motivations for Jason's running away because something isn't adding up for HIM, the idea doesn't so much as cross his mind. It would also add another layer to Jason's sulkiness upon Bruce's arrival if he held the belief that Bruce is ignoring the consequences his brand of justice has on victims (and the way it's affecting him to helplessly watch it play out), starts to hope that Bruce actually can understand his thought processes/relate to him when he shows up, only to be told to his face that Bruce is prioritizing his style of justice over Jason again. With the way everything that led Jason to his bio-mom was comically circumstantial and the context of the previous issues, it's kind of the ONLY way Death in the Family makes sense to me. Tldr: I feel like the grief claimed as reasoning for Jason's actions leading up to his death is mainly speculation from Bruce and Alfred and the more textually-supported reason for his erratic behavior and lack of trust in Bruce is the lack of intervention in several sensitive cases that led them to worsen unobstructed and eventually permitted them to escalate into casualties in 2 out of 3 cases.

*Also, side note, but the idea that Jason got benched for the Filipe situation, while perfectly reasonable, is not quite spot on. The Filipe situation escalated into the fight in the junkyard where his dad is crushed by a car and Bruce is all "everything you do has consequences" which is kinda big words for a guy whose lack of action indirectly lead to a girls death earlier in the storyline, but true. Jason actally gets benched because he jumps directly into gunfire while fighting the third set of predators and Bruce starts to worry he's getting a little suicidal with it. He baits a guy into shooting at him on purpose again trying to protect mom prospect number 1 later on in DitF, so Bruce might have had a point with that one.

[lonelywitchv2]

Shattered (Strawberries pt. 2)

summary: the discovery of your relationship leaves an aftermath that shatters more than just an inkpot.

content: lots of anger, lots of dialogue, lots of angst, lots of anger (again), sirius and james lowkey being assholes, mentions of food, the marauders basically controlling your life, sirius and regulus being on extra-bad terms, the marauders also stalking you (to an extent)

wc: 2350 (literally almost 4x longer than part 1)

join my taglist!

the long-awaited part 2 is here! hope y'all enjoy <3

The walk back to the school was quiet, all attempts at defending you and Regulus had been long abandoned. James’ grip on your forearm remained as he marched you away from the forest while Sirius refused to even look at you, choosing to glare ahead like James. 

When you, Sirius, and James entered the common room, Remus, Lily, and Marlene looked up, all three caught off guard by the sight in front of them. None of them had seen James look as angry as he did, not in the seven years of knowing him. You, on the other hand, were stuck in his iron grip, your eyes cast downwards. They watched as James and Sirius made a move to take you up to the boys' dormitories, only stopping when Remus jumped up and blocked them.

“What the hell is going on?” Remus asked, his tall frame standing in front of the staircase, glancing between the two boys and you.

“We caught her out on a little date,” James responded, his upset expression unchanged.

“Why is that such a big deal? She’s sixteen, she’s allowed to go on dates, Prongs,” Remus said, confused.

“Well, she isn’t allowed to go on dates with my little brother!” Sirius exclaimed, his face twisted in anger.

Remus, Marlene, and Lily all paused, shock written across each of their faces.

“She was on a date with Regulus?” Lily asked from the couch.

“Yes!” James responded, his head turning towards the redhead.

“And in the Forbidden Forest too!” Sirius added.

“It was just a picnic,” You uttered.

“I’m pretty sure it was more than ‘just a picnic’ given that I saw Regulus on top of you,” Sirius argued.

“Regulus was on top of her?” Marlene asked, still shocked.

“It wasn’t like that! We were just kissing!” You said, a weak defense against the five seventeen-year-olds beginning to crowd around you.

“Oh, so Regulus pins your wrists down every time you two kiss?” Sirius asked bitterly.

“No-!”

“Well, then it seemed like more than ‘just a kiss’ to me!” 

“You guys don’t understand!” You exclaimed.

“Well then help us understand,” Remus responded, trying to remain calm.

“I’m trying! Regulus and I were going on a picnic-” You started before swiftly getting interrupted.

“Why was it in the Forbidden Forest?” Sirius pestered.

“Because we knew you would freak if you saw- which we were right about!” You argued back.

“Anyways….?” Lily said, trying to draw the story out from you.

“And we were talking about books-” You said, trying to continue.

“I didn’t know talking about books involved lying on top of someone,” James muttered, hostility lacing his words

“Oh shush, James,” Marlene groaned.

“We were talking about books and then had a play fight over a strawberry and kissed. That’s it. Nothing more to it,” You finished.

“Still doesn’t explain why it was all with Regulus,” Sirius grumbled.

“Listen, Sirius, I get that you’re pissed off and I’m sorry for keeping it a secret, but I’m not sorry that it was with Regulus. I know he’s your brother but I really like him, Siri,” You said, looking up at the dark-haired boy.

“I just… I don’t get it. How’d this even happen?” Sirius asked, quieter this time.

“Potions- we, uh, we have potions together. And a few prefects rounds now and then,” You answered.

“Prefect rounds… Lily, did you put the two of them together for rounds? Cause I know I sure as hell didn’t,” James accused, turning towards the red-haired girl.

“No- James, you know the pairs are rotated, I didn’t put them together on purpose, it was bound to happen!” Lily exclaimed, stepping away from the group.

“Lily, none of this would’ve happened if they weren’t put on rounds together!”

“The pairs aren’t picked out by hand, I already told you it wasn’t intentional-”

“Dear Godric- will you guys stop fighting? James, listen, Regulus and I had classes together- we would’ve met regardless of if we were paired up for rounds or not, so don’t go blaming Lily for it,” You interrupted.

“Everyone, just stop. I just need to think.” Sirius said, waving you, Lily, Marlene, Remus, and James off as he walked up the stairs and into his dormitory.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Remus muttered, following the path of Sirius. James, who momentarily turned to glare at you, walked behind Remus.

Left in the common room with Lily and Marlene, you let out an exasperated huff as you watched the boys’ heads disappear up the stairs. Turning around, you saw the two older girls staring at you.

“What?” You asked, not oblivious to their curious expressions.

“How long has this been going on?” Lily asked quietly, Marlene leaning in slightly to hear the conversation.

You stayed silent for a moment, your gaze trailing down to the scuffed material of your shoes.

“A few months,” You said quietly, slight shame enveloping you as you felt the burning stares from Lily and Marlene.

“How many months?”

“Four.”

“Four months?!” Marlene exclaimed, a gasp leaving her mouth.

Your head turned to the side, avoiding the gaze of the two as you chewed on your bottom lip.

“Yeah, four months,” You repeated, looking everywhere but at the girls in front of you.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Lily asked, brows furrowed.

“You’re really gonna ask that after what just happened? Blimey, Lily, it’s a mess whatever I do. None of them are going to trust me again. They… they’re gonna do everything they can to keep me away from Regulus and there’s about nothing I can do about it,” You muttered, frustrated tears forming in your eyes.

“I need to be alone for a little while. I’ll see you later,” You said after a few moments of silence, raking your hands through your hair as you left for your dorm.

The sight of your bed was a welcoming sight, prompting you to kick off your shoes and flop down onto it. Despite it only being late afternoon, you were already exhausted from the stress of the day. It started off good, with you getting to be with Regulus, but it was quickly ruined by James and Sirius discovering the two of you.

Regulus.

The thought of him normally brought a wave of happiness, butterflies swarming in your stomach when you saw him. Right now, though, you felt everything but the pleasant fluttering in your stomach. It was more like there were moths inhabiting your body, covering whatever light that was once in your heart. It wasn’t because of Regulus himself, dear Godric, of course not, it was over the fact that, just like you told Lily and Marlene, you would have all four boys, or at the very least James and Sirius, working against your relationship and working to keep you apart from him. It made you sick to the stomach.

Some might say to sneak around and meet up in abandoned corridors, broom closets, or empty classrooms, which would (theoretically) work if it wasn’t for the damned Marauder’s Map. At first, the piece of enchanted parchment was a blessing when you needed to check for professors before leaving the common room past curfew but, as you grew older and would meet up with boys, you would have about five minutes, maybe ten if you were lucky, until the marauders would appear. Your resentment for the paper only grew when you realized there was no way you could be with Regulus in an empty room or corridor at night without one of the marauders catching on, so you had to get creative. You and Regulus would make out in empty sections of the library, hold hands in the back of the classroom, talk and kiss during prefect rounds, and exchange love notes passed using either magic or by being left in between the pages of a book.

The rest of the day, you stayed holed up in your room, only leaving when dinner came around, followed by Lily and Marlene, who dragged you out of bed and down to the Great Hall. Dinner was a quiet affair, something incredibly unusual for the group but, with the lingering air of hostility emitting from Sirius, no one was really in the mood for talking. You were sat in between Remus and Lily, placed strategically so you couldn’t look over at the Slytherin table. Sirius, however, was sitting across from you and refused to even glance at you, his eyes either on his plate or glaring at the Slytherin table, most definitely aimed at Regulus. 

You could feel the stares, watching as Marlene’s eyes flickered between you, Sirius, and Regulus. Lily, who would repeatedly would glance at you through her peripheral view, also caught your attention with her gaze. You were almost positive you could feel Regulus’ stare on the back of your head, yet you refrained from turning to meet the gaze. Sirius was mad enough as it was, he didn’t need to catch you looking at his little brother.

Not particularly hungry, especially given the day’s events, you spent the majority of dinner pushing around the food on your plate rather than eating it. You felt almost nauseous as you sat on the bench, the idea of eating englufed by the still-present feeling of moths within your body.

When dinner was finally finished, you were ready to bolt out of the Great Hall and into your dorm. Remus, however, had other plans, placing an arm around your shoulders and tugging you into his tall frame. Although it might’ve looked like an act of affection to some, you knew it wasn’t. You were certain Sirius had given Remus some sort of signal to make sure you didn’t leave their sight, something he was keen on avoiding after finding you and Regulus in the forest.

The over-protective behavior continued for days. You were always in the company of at least one of the marauders, whether it was in the library or walking to class, you were never alone. They had even gone so far as to bribe one of your Potions classmates into keeping an eye on you and Regulus. Of course, this was only after the plan of forcing you to switch partners failed and so began your life of constant surveillance. James had even put it upon himself to use his Head Boy status and hand-pick the prefect pairs that would patrol the halls, ensuring that you and Regulus were never together.

The only time you were ever alone was when you were in your dorm. Even then, the three girls, with whom you shared a room, had told you that James interrogated them every time they left the dorm, trying to squeeze information out of them on if you had gotten any letters or anything of the such. The girls, thankfully, had refused to answer any of James’ questions, leaving him to question what happened behind the wooden door of Gryffindor tower’s dormitory thirteen.

Around a week after you and Regulus were discovered, you finally received a letter from him. It had come Saturday morning while you were getting ready for breakfast, delivered by the midnight-colored owl Regulus had named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. After petting Pluto for a moment, you sat down on your bed to read the piece of parchment. Inside the letter, Regulus wrote about how greatly was he missing you and how he wanted nothing more than to be able to hold your hand without receiving a scathing glare from his brother. You folded the letter back up and went rummaging through your bag, pulling out parchment, ink, and a quill as you wrote a response, talking about how you were planning on trying to get Sirius to let up and not keep you on watch every moment. You rolled your letter up, tied it to Plato, and sent him off, storing Regulus’ letter inside your DADA textbook before hurrying down to breakfast.

While you were sitting with your friends, your eyes would briefly glance at the door every time a student entered, looking for a particular curly-headed boy. When you made eye contact with the one you had been searching for, you could feel the redness in your cheeks. You quickly looked down, avoiding the side-eyed glance you received from Sirius, his eyes trailed over to where Regulus was walking towards the Slytherin table.

Catching on, Sirius dropped his fork onto his plate, storming out of the Great Hall in a fit of rage. You, James, Remus, Peter, Marlene, and Lily all watched him disappear before you stood up and began to follow him.

By the time you reached the painting of the Fat Lady, Sirius was already ahead of you and inside Gryffindor tower. Muttering the password, you entered the common room, pausing to look for Sirius. After you realized he wasn’t downstairs, your ears caught the sounds of things being tossed around and falling from the girls' dormitories.

In a matter of seconds, you rushed up the stairs and into your dorm, where Sirius was rummaging through your bag, your nightstand already ransacked and gutted, its contents scattered across the floor. 

“What the hell are you doing, Sirius?!” You shouted, attempting to pull the bag out of the boy’s grip. The fight over the bag was essentially tug of war, ending when the contents spilled out, books and quills on the ground. 

“I don’t know what else you’re hiding from me, but I’m going to find it so bugger off,” Sirius growled, anger burning in his eyes as he glanced at you.

You watched as Sirius reached for your Defense Against the Dark Arts book, freezing as the letter from Regulus fluttered out from the pages and onto the ground. Sirius picked it up, unfolded it, and turned to you with a look of betrayal and fury on his face after reading it. 

“How could you?” Sirius said, leaving your dormitory and taking the letter with him.

Left in the mess surrounding your bed, you looked down to see your inkpot on the ground, shattered.

tysm for reading!

@serialghost @abq654 @scrletletter @readtomeregulus @anny-bah

[qu1cks1lversb1tch]

Taste

Warnings: Slightly suggestive themes, Valentino existing, slightly messy, I hate this, Velvette enjoying the drama, like almost no dialogue

Word Count: 1K

Summary: You and Vox had a messy breakup. Being petty, you had some things to say when something surfaced about Vox getting back together with Val.

The shockwave felt through Hell was the separation of two powerful overlords, their brands complimenting each other the same way black and green compliment each other. 

It started as small, forgivable things. Forgetting to pick up dry cleaning. Forgetting to order your lunch without tomatoes on it. Not texting between segments to catch up, knowing the both of you had busy schedules and very rarely got to see each other for longer than five minutes during the day. 

You could live with laying beside him at night, listening to every sound he subconsciously made. It wasn't hard falling into his grasp, into his bed, every evening after the final camera cut. 

But when it escalated to missing dinner reservations that had been made weeks in advance for a spontaneous meeting that wouldn't benefit the company and Vox forgetting important dates that had been marked down on all of his calendars since you took up residence in his home and his daily life, everything began to change. 

You tried to be understanding. Work was stressful. Production was low. His viewership went down 2% and he couldn't figure out why. You tried. You really did. 

And it all reared an ugly head when you reminded him for two weeks straight about the reservations made for your birthday, the time and place. Every detail he needed. . . And he didn't show up. 

Then he had the nerve to ask you where you had been when you got back to the condo. 

The answer he had received was a bitter laugh and an explosive argument that ended with you packing an overnight bag and staying with an old friend, just moments after you declared your five year relationship finished.

And all of Hell quickly discovered it, the revelation sending shockwaves through every corner of Hell. It was everyone's favorite relationship to watch from afar, and now it was done? 

You'd cried and been heartbroken in private, having wanted him to care enough to make an effort. You didn't want to break up. You just wanted him to show you that he cared. But it was too late.

In public it was as if nothing changed, except tensions were high between the two brands. You continued on, ignoring every text he sent to your phone, overriding the security you set in place so his messages would send, even though you blocked him.

Then flowers started arriving at your friend's place. Your favorite kind. Each little note attached was written in his all too familiar script, begging you to forgive him. Begging you to just ‘come home’. 

Two weeks of that and you landed back in his bed, wanting to make things work. Talk things out. 

It was raining when you and Velvette exited a shop, but for the first time in a while you had a small smile on your face as she ranted about the whole situation. She was a friend in all of this, shit talking Vox like it was her favorite hobby in the world. It was actually her second favorite hobby. 

You'd been trying to make things work with Vox for almost three weeks and Velvette was still pissed he missed your birthday for no good reason. She knew how much it meant to you.

Her phone buzzed and yours did a moment later. Clicking the notification brought you to Valentino's Sinstagram page where a picture of him and Vox together was already blowing up. 

The slight smile you were wearing slipped from your face. You weren't sad. You weren't angry. . . It was like a numb feeling swept over you as you screenshotted the post, knowing Vox would have it deleted the moment he knew it was there. 

You'd been with him that morning. In his bed. On the kitchen counter. Against the back of the couch. . . And yet their tongues were entwined, clutching each other close as if they'd never see each other again. 

If you zoomed in on the picture, you could even see the small smudge of the cherry red lipstick you wore that he adored on the collar of his shirt.

“That bastard. . .” You muttered, yet your voice was cold and reserved as you switched apps, and immediately began typing. 

Before Velvette could question what you were doing, her phone got another notification and her eyes widened as your post lit up her screen.

She laughed as you put your phone away, the likes already pouring in alongside comments and retweets.

The plan you had to bring lunch back to the tower flew out the window the moment you saw the picture. It wasn't fair to you, but you weren't about to waste your money on someone like him. 

“What's that about?” Velvette questioned, many possibilities swirling within her mind. 

“We did things. . . Many things just this morning, but I truly hope Valentino likes the way I taste on his tongue.”

The fallout that came was immediate. Your phone blew up, yet you left it alone, watching the chaos unfold as you sat back with Velvette, eating lunch. 

The two of you picked up dry cleaning, got lunch, and went back to your old friend's apartment to watch everything. 

She watched with amusement as everyone began talking about it, the drama unfolding through the rings of Hell. 

‘TV DEMON BACK WITH PORN DEMON VALENTINO?’ Began circulating quickly, and Velvette was eager to help spread it. It was bad for their image, yes, but once the smoke cleared, it could be wiped from all the servers and everyone would be forced to forget.

Yet some part of you didn't want it to disappear. You wanted everyone to remember. 

You wanted them to remember how Vox tried to do cleanup. 

Remember how Valentino was supposedly unaware of you and Vox working things out. 

Remember how you exposed everyone without naming names. You didn't care. Not anymore. It was funny just how quickly an empire could shake and begin to crumble if one part of the supporting foundation ceased offering that support. 

The shockwave that was felt though Hell, it wasn't because of the very public breakup. 

It was because of you. 

And man, was it great to watch.

[five-rivers]

Under Control

Written for Ectober day 28.

.

The first time Danny zoned out stargazing after the Accident he didn’t think much of it. He’d been about as stressed as it was humanly possible to get - and he was still human, one hundred percent, he just had ghost powers, that’s all - and he’d needed the down time. The fifth time, he started to get a little more concerned. Then, there was the incident that had put ViewTube behind a parental lock on the family computer. He’d started on one, reasonably short video about black holes, and somehow gotten through five college-level lectures on the life cycles of stars. He remembered all of them, of course, word for word. He just… didn’t know where the time went. There were smaller things, too. Talking Sam’s ear off and redirecting the conversation back to astronomy even when she obviously wanted to talk about the Humpty Dumpty concert. Grinding for the constellation-themed items in Doomed and using them to the exclusion of everything else even when they objectively sucked.

But, really, the thing that really scared Danny was when he got distracted in the middle of a ghost fight. It wasn’t a hard fight. The Box Ghost was routine at this point. He wasn’t even distracted for that long. It had just been a fraction of a second where he looked up, his eyes caught by the moon and how amazing it was. He didn’t think Tucker or Sam even noticed. If they did, they didn’t bring it up.

It didn’t matter. It was unacceptable. He couldn’t afford to get distracted by stuff like that. What if he was fighting Undergrowth? Vortex? Spectra? People were relying on him.

He knew what this was, though. He’d been fighting ghosts for months and living with his parents for years, and it wasn’t like any of them were subtle.

But… It wasn’t an obsession if he could keep it under control. Right?

He made lists. What had made him zone out. What hadn’t. He’d had to put the list on the list, because apparently remembering had sent him off into a rabbit hole and–

Well. Anyway.

He could budget his time. That was a thing. He knew it was a thing. He’d set aside one hour, maybe two, specifically for space things, and he’d fill up the rest of the time with all the other stuff he had to do. School. Homework. His friends. Patrol. Other random ghost fights. How best to protect the town. His chores. Helping old Mrs. Odell on the corner with her trash. He could do that, and then he wouldn’t get distracted. He had the willpower. He could do it. He would do it.

It didn’t work very well the first couple of weeks. Maybe he wasn’t always thinking about astronomy, but he was always thinking about when he was allowed to think about astronomy, his internal dialogue was a constant stream of how much longer how much longer how much longer. But he didn’t give in. It was too important. He had to think of the people who could be in danger if he couldn’t focus.

That made it easier. Thinking about how his actions could hurt or help others. If he put it into those terms, into terms of protecting, of helping, he wasn’t as tempted to run off to the nearest planetarium and live there, only going out at night. Lots of things could be put into those terms. If he got good grades, that made his parents, Jazz, and Mr. Lancer happy, and that was helping. If he went to bed and got up on time, his mom didn’t have to jostle him awake in the morning, and that was helping. Planning out his, Sam’s, and Tucker’s patrol routes in detail kept them safe, and that was protecting. Paying careful attention to his surroundings let him react to them faster, and that was protecting.

One month into his new way of thinking about things, and it was much easier.

He did have more time budgeted to astronomy than when he’d started. He needed it, almost physically. He wanted to do something space related when he grew up, even if he couldn’t be an astronaut, so, if he tried to always get an astronomy-related topic on essays for school, so what? It would still get done. And if he still went for the constellation items in Doomed, well, it was a game, and it didn’t hurt anything.

There were still things outside the neat little paradigm he’d built for himself, and he still had trouble holding on to those things, focusing on those things. Things like… like… Well. He couldn’t think of any. They tended to slip out of his head. They couldn’t be that important, though. He was pretty sure he had covered all the important things.

He didn’t have an obsession. He had it under control.

At least, that’s what he thought until Jazz saw his notes, just after he’d finally realized that she knew. Until she saw all the ways he’d organized his thinking until everything tied back to those important things. He hadn’t meant to leave it out, but it was just on his desk, it was where it was supposed to be, didn’t make things cluttered enough to rise to the level of a chore, of needing to clean up to make mom and Jazz happy.

“Danny,” said Jazz, obviously concerned. “This is… Is this really… Don’t you think this is a little… obsessive? Thinking like this?”

“I’m not,” said Danny, knowing how weak that must sound as an argument. “I know I– Look, I know ghosts have obsessions. And I know I sort of have one. Had one. With, you know, astronomy. But I don’t think about it all the time. I’m not like the Box Ghost. I figured out a way to get around it. To think about different things.”

“That’s… great,” said Jazz. “But I wasn’t talking about the astronomy. Or, well, I was, but not only the astronomy.” She held up his notebook. “I was talking about all of this.”

“Oh,” said Danny, very quietly.

“I think you should see someone about this. Because… Because this is a lot, Danny.”

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who could I see?” asked Danny, twisting his fingers in the hem of his shirt. “Safely, who could I see about this?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Jazz, softly.

Danny freed one of his hands to rub at his eyes. “That’s okay. Really.” He smiled at her. “I have it under control.”

[spotsandsocks]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @tizniz @diazsdimples @wikiangela @hippolotamus @bi-buckrights @exhuastedpigeon Thank you lovelies 💖

How many works do you have on ao3?

89 that’s not too shabby is it. Three years of writing this summer.

What's your total ao3 word count?

902,255 that is quite a few words isn’t it.

What fandoms do you write for?

911

Top five fics by kudos:

If You Break It 3.2k Chris overhears a something and gets upset, then he tells Buck who gets upset too.

They say the Truth will set you free 2.3K Buck get a dose of something at work and gets emotional and chatty

Could Have Should Have Would Have 3.2k an unexpected“I love you” but it’s too late. Isn’t it?

Just Ask 1.7K Eddie's having thoughts, he wants to touch. Buck's ok with that, all Eddie has to do is ask.

Looking from the outside 2.4K TWhat happens when everyone you meet thinks you’re married to your perfectly platonic best friend. Most of these are quite old now, I think I’ve written some just as good or even better but fics don’t seem to get as much kudos these days

Do you respond to comments?

yes everyone is really important to me

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

No fics really end angsty round here but this one’s pretty emotional along the way.

Alone With Your Thoughts Buck gets very badly hurt (for plot reasons) and trying hard to stay alive he realises he’s not as alone as he thought.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

See above! All happy can’t choose the happiest.

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet- think I’m too small to get noticed maybe!

Do you write smut?

Um yes I certainly do 😏 and quite well I like to think 😉 in fact an example will be popping along in FIF shortly

Craziest crossover:

Nope - now AUs is a different story

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! Can’t imagine anyone noticing my fics enough to steal them

Have you ever had a fic translate

Someone asked to once but who knows!

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope

All time favourite ship?

Gotta be buddie hasnt it. They just inspire me

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

All of my wips languish right now and are crying out for attention but I fully intend to finish them all. I do!

What are your writing strengths?

Not sure?! I think my more canon style fics are quite consistent with the characters in the show. Think that I’m pretty good with a complicated plot but you tell me?? I like the way I can wrap a bit of humor around the more tense bits too.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Long sentences? An over enthusiasm for the comma? Too long? Poor tagging?

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Maybe controversial but I’m not a huge fan of eddie using Spanish terms of endearment in fics. If he ever does it in show I’ll feel better about it, but it doesn’t actually feel very him, apart from that I don’t mind

First fandom you wrote in?

911

Favourite fic you've written?

How can I chose!! But these old chestnuts I’ve gone on about before but I, very proud of them actually

The Lost and The Found werewolf/shifter au

Good Knight Sweet Prince Prince/knight au

Tied To You From The Start smutty paranormal shenanigans

And obviously dragonriders au… see FIF post shortly

Thanks for tags you lovely lovely people you’re all so so talented I adore you you make my days so much brighter ☀️💜☀️

@rogerzsteven @hoodie-buck @thekristen999 @loserdiaz @weewootruck

@shipperqueen6 @stagefoureddiediaz @underwaterninja13 @steadfastsaturnsrings @daffi-990

@bidisasterevankinard @bekkachaos @elvensorceress @rainbow-nerdss @honestlydarkprincess

@saybiwithme @loveyouanyway @lover-of-mine @watchyourbuck @jesuisici33

@monsterrae1 @eddiebabygirldiaz @shortsighted-owl @fiona-fififi @the-likesofus

[call-me-rucy]

Disclaimer: I'm sick so this post might not make sense but here we go.

OH HO METZOV RECOGNIZES GREGOR AS WELL. Okay. Okay. We probably can work with that.

The fact that this guy's first reaction was searching for Illyan... I wonder if perhaps we as readers have our friend Simon overly normalized. Like for me, he's a guy but for every character he's something like the omniscient and omnipresent spirit of Ezar Vorbarra protecting Gregor.

I am loving! The use of capital lettters! In Gregor's dialogue! Great writing!

I wonder what legal status Metzov holds. As in, if Gregor were to give him an order, would he have to obey? Unlikely. Very unlikely.

"Cavie" "Stanis, darling". This is like watching a car crash in slow motion. I can't take my eyes off it.

That parragraph about Gregor being very good at the role of emperor but being no one outside of being the emperor, but about Miles and Naismith. About what's the person and what's the role.

"Send the little one to the brig, if you like. He's nothing, you say?" The only son of the most powerful military leader on Barrayar kept his mouth shut for a change.

Miles has employed Eternal Plan A, "Letting Miles talk"! It has gone horrifically wrong! :D

"Commander Cavilo, being female, (...)" Please let her kill him please let her kill him. I would kiss you, McMaster Bujold.

"What does it look like" "Like you're comitting treason" "It does, doesn't it?"

Miles has employed Eternal Plan A, "Letting Miles talk"! It is working considerably better with Metzov than with Cavilo!

The threat of fast-penta floats above Miles' head. While I look forward to the day Miles is chemically interrogated, I don't think this is going to be it, given all the set up the writing is doing. Maybe in another book. I hope in another book.

Miles doing macrame in a cell to write a help message is the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

"So, Lord Vorkosigan. Tell me about your mother." While I'm happy to hear about Cordelia, what are you doing, Gregor.

"Plus, she established quite a local military reputation in the fighting of Vordarian's Pretendership, the year I was born twice. Led loyal troops, oh, several times, when my father couldn't be two places at once." And had been personally responsible for the five-year-old emperor-in-hiding's safety.

THAT'S A WAY TO SAY IT, I GUESS LOL. I am reminded now that this was written before "Barrayar" and oh, boy. The shopping trip was a great addition to the ideas presented here.

Cavilo, Empress of Barrayar, now that's a laugh.

A thing I love about the writing of the characters is that they're not in a vacuum. Just this chapter, Aral, Cordelia, Ivan and Seargent Bothari have been mentioned. I like it.

NOT HIM BEING RECOGNIZED AS NAISMITH AS WELL. AAAAAAH!!!

[kaistarus]

My Fic Recs

South Park

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (gremlinteeth)–(Creek-complete(137k)–this is quite literally the greatest fic in existence. ‘but South Park is cring–’ shut your mouth, get over it, and read this masterpiece. The character/relationship development, worldbuilding, symbolism, characterization?? I still get emotional listening to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” by The Beach Boys.... Like what?!? I cannot wait for the day that I have forgotten enough of this fic that I can reread it again properly. IDC what fandom you’re from read this fic.

Me, You, And Time(HelplessRomantic_2)--(Creek-complete(13k))--There are a lot of fics on Craig and Tweek’s development using canon moments in the show and I think this one does it best. Characterization, realism, character/relationship development, friend group dynamics. It’s just a great fic overall. Love it

Family Is What You Make Of It(Mareepysheepy)--Creek-complete(17k))--This fic is unbelievable. It’s an absolute masterpiece of a take on the Tucker family dynamic and how Tweek has fit into their lives. The unconditional love they have for each other and Tweek’s support for Craig. It’s one of my favorite Tucker family fics and the writing itself is phenomenal

Life In Color (BlameCanada)-@blame-canada-Creek-Complete(2k)--This is so artistically written and underappreciated. It’s a shorter one-shot, but their ability to take Craig’s monotonous descriptions to show how his worldview and outlook literally change with Tweek around is beautiful. Gives me that chest achy lovey feel and cannot get enough

Your Eyes, My Nose (PinkFan_Gurl)-@pinkfan-gurl-Creek-Incomplete(75k)-I admit, I was a little hesitant at first because babies, but I gave it a chance and OH my god I’m so glad. The writing style is fantastic, the characterization is phenomenal, there are unique relationship dynamics, and most importantly we get dopey Craig who is so in love with Tweek it’s embarrassing. I flip out when I see there's an update in my inbox. Not complete, but still updates 🙂

A Beautiful Sight, We’re Happy Tonight (@tlinrookie)-Creek-Complete(13k)--I am so obsessed with this fic, it's just so fucking good and one of my favs. Post-high school hook-up into insecure/awkward flirting? It’s so well done and realistic as a concept that if someone told me this actually happened to them in college I’d believe it. I love that in my fics. And once again, awkward blushy Craig <3

press pause (pink2d)--Creek-complete(13k)--Just Craig overwhelmed with his newly developing feelings through fantastic writing and emotional description. He just wants to kiss his boyfriend but can’t stop overthinking literally everything. I LOVE the author’s use of little details and actions to show love and build up on Craig’s end, gives you a chest achy emotion

Anyone Else But You(@fruitloopzed)-Creek-Complete(3k)--One of my fav meet cutes. I’m always a sucker for love at first sight, but Craig seeing a cute boy at five-years-old and his first instinct being to rizz them up with red racer? What a concept. Genius. It’s so cute and actually writes them in character for their age which is well done

Nervous young inhumans(tweakers)-Creek-Incomplete(136k)@tweakerist--Have you ever wanted Craig to be hopelessly in love, but literally everyone and their grandma knows except him? Well, I have the fic for you! lmao seriously tho Craig is an idiot. but his and Tweek’s relationship dynamic/development is so good. I will reread some interactions like ten times cause they’re so cute and funny. So if you also like dialogue/interactions sign yourself up. It’s incomplete, but author updates regularly!

Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun

More Trouble Than You’re Worth(@voidjelli)–Amanene-Complete(183k)- Have you ever wanted as many fanfic tropes as possible shoved into one beautifully written fic? Well I've got the story for you! lol I’m personally obsessed with ‘he’s so in love with her it’s pathetic’ so this fic kills me. The writing is phenomenal and the characterization/relationship buildings are amazing. I’m a sucker for good friendships and fun group dynamics which this fic is filled with AND there’s  a prequel Last Call(7k)

Undertow(Kawffee)-@kawff33-Amanene-Complete(96k)--The amount of effort and research that must have gone into this fic astounds me. Like a mystery/romance with a small-town island setting, Nene doing Orca research? I learned so much. The writing is astounding, the concept is fantastic, it was so fun to read, and I’m amazed it exists as just a fanfic tbh

[itsevanffs]

My five favourite fics

Thanks for the tag @moontearpensfic :3

"Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free to pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗"

Ok this is a little difficult. In no particular order:

slowly [E, 14/?, Spider-Verse, Miguel O'Hara/Miles Morales]

Slowly is currently my favourite fic! This might change but I'm 1/3rds through it and it's still going really strong, which is super fun. For those who don't follow my spiderverse stunts, here's a plot summary:

Miguel, a 37 year old divorcee, gets invited to Miles' 14th birthday party through happenstance, where they befriend each other. Over the next six months, that friendship deepens into something Miles isn't quite prepared to handle, and which Miguel isn't ready to give up.

It tackles a lot of (in my eyes) pretty complex subjects, like the nuances of parental neglect, grooming, trans experiences, sibling dynamics, teen sexuality and more :D Aside from that, it's also a PWP, which tend to be my favourites overall. It's a good brain squeeze for me to navigate all the intertwined realistic aspects while still making it believable, and from the response I've gotten, that seems to be something I do pretty well!

Anabiosis [E, 3/3, Harry Potter, Tom Riddle/Harry Potter (implied)]

Anabiosis was a big ol chonker of a fic, and took a lot of research to get right, particularly in the last chapter. I cried as I wrote the ending of the first chapter---I think I sobbed for about 20 minutes straight, a sentiment a lot of commenters have echoed---and it's very close and dear to my heart. It's a big character study about grief; grief for something you never got to have, grief for something you didn't know was there until it was gone, and grief for something you always took for granted. I think it turned out the best it could be, and I'm glad I wrote it.

At the expense of the world [E, 5/?, Harry Potter, Tom Riddle/Harry Potter]

At the expense of the world (or expense, for short) is one of the oldest ideas for a fic I've ever had. I've always been sort of fascinated by ancient Roman culture, and the second I learned about the honestly massive amounts of slavery they did, I wanted to write a fic about it. That's over a decade ago, now, although this fic itself is a lot younger; it's just turned 2 and a bit :D It's also got a lot of research behind it, and while it's more fantasy and PWP than anything else, I'm still really grateful to the very warm response it's gotten!

Sugar [E, 3/8, Spider-Verse, Miguel O'Hara/Miles Morales]

Sugar is a big excuse for me to play around with a bajillion iterations of the omegaverse at once, and it's really fun! I also really like how organic the dialogue has turned out; watching ATSV 30+ times has really helped me nail down their voices :D It's got some heavy topics in it, like sexism (fantasy sexism I guess) and cultural differences among universes regarding treatment of different dynamics. It's cool! I love exploring stuff like that, so Sugar is a tasty treat to me! (pardon the pun)

the bad man [E, 1/1 Spider-Verse, Miguel O'Hara/Miles Morales]

This is my first ever pornshot with complete nonconsent, which was a pretty notable milestone for me! I had a lot of fun writing it---I think I wrote it in like... a week or something. I'd check but that takes the fun out of it :P It has two iterations; a teacher/student version, and a brother/brother version. The brother version is a separate fic, you can find it in the series if you want. I'm not sure which one I like better, tbh

Okay, uhh, tag... @cindle-writes, @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger, doubling the tag for @mosiva, and @aldergroves and @muchymozzarella. no pressure obv :)

[carefulfears]

“i owe you everything. scully, you owe me nothing” is one of the most insane pieces of dialogue ever written. It drives me out of my mind. It’s such a glimpse into mulders character and his idea of love

GODDD it really is, isn’t it?? she’s given her entire life to him, to following him. she’s lost time and health and family members. she's been pulled away, and clawed right back.

and the thing about it is, that she dedicated herself to him before she had skin in the game. before it was personal to her. she leaned against him in the rain and asked "where are we going?" and she followed, because she joined the FBI to help people, and she realized quickly that trying to help in the federal government, gets you to the basement.

she asked him where they were going and she followed to wherever the answer was because he saw her vulnerable and scared in that motel room and he wrapped her up and sat below her on the floor. she spends so much of season one wide-eyed looking up at him, asking him questions, watching him, taking in that wild goodness that she wants to be a part of.

and five years in, he stands in the hallway, and he tells her that she saved him. that she made him a whole person. that she owes him NOTHING. and all she can do is cry. like, literally all there is for her to do is look up at him with tears streaming down her face, and hold onto him. there's such grief in that moment. there’s such grief in being needed. in being absolved.

rob bowman directed that scene and he talked about the moment when scully comes to tell mulder that she's leaving, and she just turns around and runs for the elevator, and "she never makes it. this was her first mistake."

they may not owe each other anything, depending on who you ask, but they will give each other everything.

bowman continued, "she has made him feel not like an outcast, not like discarded FBI trash, but actually somebody that's worthy of her friendship. that, as he says, she's made him a whole person."

it's amazing that someone who has moved an educated doctor to give over her entire life to hunting aliens she doesn’t believe in, can see the world this way.

are we whole when alone? when down in the basement, when we’re not believed or listened to, when everyone is spooked?

is he whole when his last evidence of capability for connection and being loved, disappeared at 8 years old?

love, to mulder, is an empty room. it’s walking through fire, not because you have to, but because someone wants to see you burn. it’s stepping onto a porch in new england with open arms and being cut off with a sharp hand.

love, to mulder, is a responsibility. and spending the rest of your life atoning for the failure.

he owes her everything, even when she has one foot out the door. he asks for nothing in return.

she cries at the weight of it all, and she gets back up and follows.

[slayingfiction]

What would your advice for just-starting-out young authors be?

I love new writers! I’ve never known a better way to escape my reality and live a thousand different lives.

I started writing when I was young, maybe 12 or 13 years old. I am now 25, and very much consider myself to be a child, but still, in my 10+ years of personal writing and classes, here are some of the best tips I can give anyone who is new to writing, regardless of age.

Read. Read. Read. Then read some more. The easiest and fastest way to learn how to write is by reading and studying how other people have written their stories. Study their balance of dialogue vs description vs action. Study the words they use and what they’re choosing to describe. Study the scenes that make you feel something, or pull you to the story even more, and dissect it until you understand how to do it.

Daydream. At night, in the morning, before and after school, during school, during work. When people are trying to talk to you, just daydream. Image worlds with populated moons. Imagine worlds with multiple human-like species all living in the same area. Image a boy who goes home and cries to his adoptive vampire parents, and girls who practices knife throwing every night to prepare for the apocalypse that no one sees coming. Dream of everything and anything because that’s how you keep and improve your creativity. Eventually you may even write something with it.

Write for yourself. Always start by writing what you enjoy, and love your characters and your stories. Everything about your first draft should be because you love the story, not what other people like. You will never please everyone, so start with yourself, and build a community with the ones who love your story as much as you do.

Do it on your own timeline. If you want to write a book in a month, edit the next and publish right after, do it. If you want to write the first five chapters of 8 books without finishing, do it. If, like me, you want to write your first novel at 18 years old, and 7 years later still not feel ready to publish, that’s ok! You are not falling behind anyone else, you are exactly where you should be on your own path.

Practice. Your writing will improve with practice, that’s how it works, it’s how it always works. No way to skip right to publishing a first draft and becoming famous for it. Practice and just keep writing, you will improve.

Challenge yourself. While you may love fantasy or romance, or maybe all your story ideas are too big for only one book and they all end up being series’, you need to try new things. Write a mystery short story. Write poetry on how you feel. Write one page on how you could survive a zombie apocalypse as long as you have your coffee in the morning, it doesn’t matter, just try new things. Trying new things is how I wrote this haiku: Take a deep inhale, Breathe fresh air into my lungs, I savorfreedom. Is it the greatest haiku ever? No, but it makes me happy, and reminds me that I can write, good or bad, and still be proud of myself.

Keep all your projects. Good or bad. Look back on them years later and think, yeah that was terrible, at least I’m better now. Or maybe think, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. It’s a progressive journey. You can take your time. DONT EVER SHAME YOUR YOUNGER SELF FOR THEIR WORK. THEY TRIED THEIR HARDEST AND WROTE AS BEST THEY COULD. WE ARE PROUD OF OURSELVES, NOT EMBARRASSED OR SHAMED. Whether the work is from years ago or days go. Be kind to yourself, no one else owes you that.

Compare. Compare to popular novels, compare to your friends stories or to people online. Compare and see if your character are developed enough, or if your story makes sense, or if it’s relatable. When comparing however, keep in mind that your written style will be different than all others writers. Your first novel will not be the same as an author’s 10th book that just went viral on TikTok. It takes practice and time. Compare for style, technique, structure and plot. Not for popularity, worth, importance, and don’t feel down thinking that someone writing at a higher grade level makes them better, it doesn’t.

Share your work. If you are embarrassed, use a pen name. That’s perfectly fine. Put your work out there and get feedback. Having one person saying your story is (negative criticism here) is going to happen, don’t freak out. It doesn’t mean your story is flawed and should be tossed. If most people are saying that, then maybe it’s time to revisit the story and plot. Getting feedback from people reading your story is important, you want to ask specific questions so you don’t get generic answers. Get real reviews from real people, the mean voice in your head doesn’t get a say.

Learn the difference between perfect and done. I know, I know. Perfectionists around the world just scoffed and thought ‘I would if I could’. Here’s the thing, it’ll never be perfect. A word won’t be right, you can’t find the right way to convey an emotion, your choice of vocabulary isn’t up to your standards, I get it. You want your work to be absolute perfection so that everyone loves it and no one can say a bad thing about it, but it doesn’t work that way. Instead make it to ‘complete’, then nitpick some details, then it’s done. Done is good, it’s where you want to be.

Self-publishing? Pay for a professional editor and a graphic designer. It makes a difference, I promise.

There’s lots of others, but I would say as a writer-starter-pack, these should get you started, then you will learn lessons all on your own, or find them as you’re writing later on. Truly, just have fun, and the rest will come with time.

Happy Writing!

[starstruckodysseys]

20 questions for 20 writers !!

thank u to @localdisasterisk for tagging me in this! i honestly do not know how many writers i follow so um. ill tag my pibe fic besties @wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos @angelwiththeblue-box @fatestitcherr @incorrect-play-it-by-ear and the rest of u can fight amongst yourselves

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

48. i don’t know if its more concerning that almost half of them are from the past five months or that almost half are play it by ear. its the same almost half but still

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

143,389. woof

3. what fandoms do you write for?

obviously play it by ear. everyone knows that. also d20 occasionally and project sekai. unfortunately

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

toya and mizuki’s step by step guide to romancing a shinonome — i will be so real with you guys i specifically crafted this one to be popular. and then i fell in love with it along the way. but it did start as a science experiment

let me take you with me (just like this) — WHY. this is my second pjsekai fic and my fourth fic ever posted. it’s not at all reflective of my current style. help

kiss it better — yeah. same issue as the other one. this one’s better though lmao

say you miss me (say you want to kiss me) — honestly? just impressed a honakana fic made it up this high. love my girlies

the moon is crumbling (but that’s okay) — yeah everyone pretend to be surprised the ruikasa fic got this high up. it was a new concept for me, though, so i’m pretty proud of that

5. do you respond to comments?

i used to, but not really anymore unfortunately. to be fair, i will point you all to the fact that most of my recent fics are pibe, and then to the discord where we all scream about them together

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don’t usually. write sad endings. bc i don’t like them. okay that’s not true i just usually don’t. i guess the moon is crumbling?? if i had to choose?? it’s more bittersweet than anything, but people did say they cried, so…

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

99.9% of my fics are getting together fics. it’s just the same ending a million different ways. you tell me

8. do you get hate on your fics?

not publicly!

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

i would simply be too powerful if i could. this is for your safety actually

10. do you write crossovers?

in the sense of characters across universes/media interacting? no. in the sense of “i am going to put my blorbos in every single other setting i slightly enjoy”? absolutely. putting them under a microscope. researching and recording how they react to their surroundings

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

i simply do not think there is a demand for my fics in other languages. not in like a depressing way, it’s just that i’m writing for like five people including myself, so. yknow

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but if someone wanted to… 👀

14. what’s your all time favorite ship?

i’ve never written for them (yet, at least), but by sheer volume and span of time i have to say souyo persona4. my silly boys. i’ve never scoured the entire tag for a ship multiple times on ao3 like i have for them. i have so many thoughts about them that have never seen the light of day but they exist!!

15. what’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

stares awkwardly at feed your anger like fire… i’ve tried!! but it turns out that sometimes you get stuck on clothing designs and stop writing and then lose passion for the project and then stop updating for three years because you were too ambitious and also you hate your old writing style. not that i would know anything about that

16. what are your writing strengths?

i think i’m really good at dialogue, or at least banter. unfortunately this makes me very judgmental but that’s not important. also i can create a vibe well i’ve been told

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

in general? i SUCK at character description, or at least knowing where and when to place it. i also always worry about characterization and if my characters sound too similar

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i used to read so many fics that centered around using another language (shoutout bmc fandom when i was. in that. a dark period of my life, but alas) and honestly if it’s done well i think it’s cool!! i’m not going to get into the intricacies of bilingualism on account of being an english only speaker but it is rad to me

19. first fandom you wrote for?

wrote for? probably warriors. yes the cats. i had a whole fanfic for my oc. shoutout to… honestly i don’t remember her name but she was a real one! wrote for and posted is another story, by which i mean i don’t remember At All. probably bandori tbh, bc i don’t remember if i posted fanfic on my wattpad

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

either the venn diagram of curses and crushes (which is still my favorite fic title ever) or soaking in the glory. one of them is a 3k word expedition into the play it by ear canon space and the other is a 7k word fever dream i went into a fugue state to write in two days. honorable mention to the like the sweetest cup of chai series which i hold so close to my heart. silliest besties of all time

[choiceofgames]

Author Interview

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2024/07/new-author-interview-drew-morrison-bootlegger-moonshine-empire/

I think this is your first time writing interactive fiction, but you’re rather an accomplished playwright, I gather. Tell me a little about your background and what brought you to Choice of Games.

I started writing for theater in middle school, and got my Masters in Playwriting at the University of New Mexico. Dialogue has always been my favorite part of writing, and theater offers such a great way to get together with friends and tell a story. I worked for a devised theater company in Albuquerque for about five years, and I really got attached to the camaraderie that develops around putting up a play, especially when it’s done without a lot of financial resources. It means everybody learns different tasks, and shifts around with each show: sometimes you’re a writer, sometimes an actor, director, technician, or shadow-puppeteer. The whole thing ends up being this wonderful process of collaborative problem solving: How do we make what we want to make with what we have? Those limitations spark more interesting ideas than the ones you’d have if you could just pay problems away.

I was introduced to Choice of Games by a friend who had worked for the company as a cover artist. I’d never written anything like this before, and it was a steep learning curve, but the Choice of Games forum and community is such a vibrant scene of supportive people that it’s been really exciting to work on. As a writer, it’s so easy to get sucked into the lonely process of submitting to distant strangers and contests, rarely getting any feedback on your work. The opportunity to have people engaged and willing to respond to your drafts is an invaluable resource, which was my favorite part of working in theater.

What did you find most challenging about the game design and using ChoiceScript to craft a narrative?

Pretty much everything? I was so proud the day I finally submitted a full draft that you could play through from beginning to end that it’s fueled me through the whole editing process since. Having finished a CoG game now, it’s amazing how many tips and tricks you pick up along the way that would change how you approach writing another game.

There were a lot of really fun challenges purely at the level of the prose. For one, second-person/present tense is such a fun, propulsive voice to write in. As someone who didn’t grow up with tabletop roleplaying games, it’s a relatively new voice for me.

Also, as a playwright, my plays are often structured around reveals and buried secrets. When lights come up on a play, we don’t know the people on stage, and revelations about their pasts, motives, relationships, and shared histories are part of what fuels the drama.

In an interactive fiction novel, the reveal isn’t as useful, because it will only work for the first playthrough. This completely changes the notion of suspense as a storytelling technique–a returning player has already seen behind the curtain. Plus, in the main character’s case, the player needs to know (and decide) all major backstory decisions from the outset, so that they can make informed decisions. This was really fun for me; as a writer I couldn’t rely on old tricks. It feels like I usually write as someone watching from the audience, and this was like going on stage and whispering in the main character’s ear.

Bootlegger is set during such an interesting period in American history. What about the period, and about Prohibition in general do you think modern readers may not know about?

The intersection of coffee and alcohol is really interesting to me. Part of the reason people drank so much pre-Prohibition was because alcohol was one of the only reliably safe ways to drink water. It would be much lower alcohol content than we associate with booze today, but people would drink the entire day. Coffee and tea were new forms of safe ways to drink water, so people went from being mildly drunk all the time to sober and caffeinated. The intellectual and political ramifications of that are massive.

The period is great for anecdotes, and I love all the methods people came up with to get away with drinking. Speakeasies would install levers that, when pulled in the case of a raid, would dump their entire liquor display down a hidden chute, shattering the bottles and draining the booze. Alcohol had been determined to have no health benefits, but during Prohibition that suddenly changed: whiskey could be gotten legally with a prescription for all sorts of maladies.

For me, it’s also a really interesting time of how people respond to a ban. For many, Prohibition was an attempt to stop some truly devastating habits, such as poor workers and farmers blowing their full paychecks on the way home, before even getting to their families. You can see how the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League could see alcohol and the people who sold it as criminal enterprises. At the same time, the complete ban on it meant that many people saw a market, and exploited it ruthlessly. With Bootlegger, I wanted to explore the sudden emergence of a new market that’s illegal, lucrative, and slightly absurd; something that was legal a few short years ago is now a violent, thriving industry.

Do you have a favorite NPC, one you enjoyed writing most?

I’ve never written any kind of gangster story, so writing Capaldi was a lot of fun. Writing a villain in general is a lot of fun, actually, but especially in this case, since Capaldi can be a villain or an ally depending on the play-through. That type of character, alternately frightening and endearing, is so rich and prevalent in gangster movies, and I like that in interactive fiction you might only see someone’s worst side when you’re on their worst side, which is just a terrible place to be. I think one reason we get into stories like The Godfather is because we see two sides of people, while the other characters in the story only see one: loving family member, terrifying murderer. It seems impossible that they can be one person.

If you were transported to the world of Bootlegger, what kind of underground shenanigans would you be best at? Distilling, smuggling, or imbibing?

I think I’d be good at distilling. I know I’d be terrible at being in charge of an operation, I have neither the economic wherewithal or ruthlessness. But I was a barista for a long time, so I think I’d be good at tending a still. I don’t think Prohibition had much of a “craft rotgut” scene, but I imagine I’d be able to get to the point of describing the flavor notes to my customers, which could maybe help me work my way up to get the kind of clients who could afford to care about the quality of their whiskey during Prohibition. But I’m also too trusting, so I’d be very easy to rip off. So, if I could find my way into an operation run by someone like Sam in Bootlegger, who takes care of their own, I’d make a very good worker.

Do you have a favorite tipple or are you a teetotaler?

I do love the occasional bourbon or an old fashioned, but generally I stick with beer.

What else are you working on/working on next, writing-wise?

I’m currently getting my Masters in Political Science, so I’m writing several essays, mainly focusing on the global impact of the film industry. I recently had a staged reading of a new play, Wildlife, which focuses on the illegal wildlife trade, as part of an ongoing project for my classes focusing on climate change. I am also working on an audio drama, called Ambrosia’s Big Break, with the hopes of releasing it in podcast format. Over the process of revising Bootlegger, I’ve had more ideas about things I’d like to do in this medium, so I’ve started to sketch out ideas for another interactive novel. This one would take an interconnected series of science fiction stories I wrote, and adapt them into one big world for the player. It’s one of those narratives that I’ve been attached to for years, but haven’t found the proper form for yet.

[alangdorf]

Welp, the ref lineup still isn’t done cause I haven’t drawn Shion yet, and the belated valentines I’ve been working on are gonna be like at least a month late cause I just planned three more, but what I did do these past couple weeks is start writing a fanfic and then immediately abandon it to go draw a bunch of only tangentially-related suzutsubas (except for that first pic; that’s a scene from it, albeit one I haven’t written yet), only half of which are fit for public posting (one of ‘em I could make a few edits and feel ok about posting sometime; it’s not that out there, it’s just, y’know. Hamal Cine Bad End Hyperbolic Torture Chamber. I’m usually very “whatever happens happens” about my art but if I don’t show some restraint I know I’ll end up stuck in there forever), but hey, since I’ve been teasing them for ages and finally have some finished stuff with them, take a couple Suzumii! Also gonna ramble abt headcanons under the cut (and it will be LONG)

To begin, a note abt my Len’en gender/pronoun headcanons: as a they/them preferrer myself, I’m thrilled that most people just stick with those for everyone, but I’ve developed some more detailed headcanons as I go through working on designs and I’ll generally be using those. Don’t worry though, most of them are still nonbinary and basically all of them are trans/gq. Relevant ones for this post are Tsubakura: they/them nonbinary (transmasc to some degree) and Suzumi: cis female, question mark?? (to be elaborated on); for clarity’s sake I usually use she/her for Arde and Hamal Cine individually and plural they for the system collectively (also I don’t usually use their nicknames, dunno why), but singular they for Benet (the wiki says Benny is probably short for Benetnasch so I’m assuming that’s their actual name) for reasons which will also be elaborated on (sort of).

Aaalso this clearly isn’t autobiographical or anything but I think I’m subconsciously putting a lot of myself into Suzumi because 1) we do look pretty similar (brown wavy bob + blue eyes) and 2) given their current status as both the main antagonist and the most well-known plural Len’en character (I get the impression that Hooaka also being plural isn’t super common knowledge; I mean it took me several read-throughs of their wiki page and their dialogue with BPoHC Secret Team to get what they were getting at lol) I am probably way too anxious about doing a bad stereotype. Just an observation and also probably partially why I’ve even ended up with so much headcanon for them in the first place

And before I get into the thick of it, notes on derivations from canon: I’m running with the assumption that Suzumi being a system is a relatively recent development tied to whatever incident it was that caused the falling-out, since Tsubakura is like the only person who seems at all familiar with Hamal (including Mitori/Chouki/Fumikado, but they’re more easily explained away as just having met with one of the other alters the few times they’ve interacted) even though she’s supposedly usually the one fronting. They don’t seem to know the mechanics of it though, judging by their confusion when Arde implied that she and Hamal are different people. So basically, I’ll be referring to pre-incident Suzumi as a different character from any of the other three. (Ngl I am very influenced by Dissociation Constant on that and just in general [when will my wife The One and Only Suzutsuba Fic return from the war…..]) I was also debating whether to have Suzumi have any history with the gang before starting to work at the lab/whether stuff would happen around high school or college age, cause they keep referring to everything happening “a long time ago” and I know I, a 24-year-old, feel like stuff that happened five years ago was like yesterday, but I do have the pandemic and not really doing much of anything for most of that time to reckon with so like, eh. College age makes more sense in my head and so does the dynamic of like, Suzumi was only introduced into the friend group (she was acquainted w Hoojiro and Yabu already though bc lab) because she was dating Tsubakura and since that ended, and badly (understatement of the century), they have extremely little reason to be civil with each other and also interacting at all is really awkward.

Ok now on with it! Either end of high school or beginning of college, Suzumi ends up interning at Tsubakura’s lab for college credit (Tsuba’s already practically a department head despite being like 17 or something because. Idk. Who even knows what’s up with them) and she’s like. Only wears t-shirts and jeans (bought a bunch of khakis for this job though), [reading] glasses from the men’s section, hates leaving her hair down (it’s lab safety anyways). Repressed queer in denial, you know the type. Starts interacting a lot with Mx. Tsubakura “wears short shorts that everybody thinks are actually a skirt and also uses ore and omae almost exclusively” Enraku who seems to have everything all figured out and is immediately starstruck (GIRL WHY?? they are such a mess). Lots of “do I want to date them or do I want to be them” confusion (this will be relevant later); eventually evolves into the “am I trans or just a lesbian” question (not that they would need to be attracted to women to be into Tsubakura but you get the picture), which never quite gets answered.

In any case, they do eventually start dating (Tsubakura thinks she’s cute and smart so they reciprocate), and they’re not like super great together cause Tsubakura is emotionally constipated at the best of times (Suzumi’s into that though) and neither of them are the most mentally/emotionally healthy people even back then and also Tsubakura is more or less Suzumi’s boss which is weird, but they’re kind of ok??? Tsubakura’s mom dies at some point, also they move in together (college housing is expensive), the rest of the crew at the very least tolerate Suzumi, etcetera.

And then…! [insert catastrophic event here]!! I don’t have a shot to call on this yet cause I have no idea what it could’ve been (and I’m sure it’ll get revealed at some point anyways); I’m just banking on it being something extremely not mundane and something where you could reasonably set the blame on either (or neither) party cause they sure both seem convinced the other is way worse, huh! In Tsubakura’s case at least, blaming Suzumi is partially a defense mechanism so their self-loathing doesn’t get the better of them over it (guess what the fic was supposed to be about, lol).

The worst part of all this business though is that they DON’T break up over it immediately and it just makes everything orders of magnitude worse for everyone involved. Tsubakura and Arde have hate sex MORE THAN ONCE………… they would both really rather forget about it. Hamal thinks it’s hilarious, ofc, but the less said about her, the better. And Benet… exists??? The only idea that I’m running off of for them atm is the observation that I think they’re the only character with flat black eyes other than Tsubakura/Tsurubami and the subsequent idle thought, “hey if someone malded so hard about a breakup that they ended up with an introject of their ex would that be messed up or what?” So make of that what you will. (Oh and it may have been obvious that this is what I was going for but Hamal is femme and Arde is butch and they’re constantly squabbling abt aesthetic presentation. Having Arde be straight-up male would’ve been too straightforward of an interpretation and I think it’s funnier this way)

The canonically mentioned murder attempts start taking place and I’m leaning towards Tsubakura eventually being convinced to move out even though it was originally their apartment, albeit mostly just because the wikipedia page for house sparrows mentions that they’re known to take over swallows’ nests, usually after they’ve been abandoned, but they will sometimes drive away or kill the current occupants, and that was a very fun fact to come across when specifically doing research for Len’en but idk how else to incorporate it lol. And so on and so forth up until the present time.

Uhhh is that all I have atm? I think so! Anyway, I think I finally shook out all my suzutsuba doodles (and rambling, though I do still have that fic to work on. idk whether I’ll be able to finish it though; I started strong with an extended metaphor in the middle but Iiiii’m not sure if I can successfully write my way up to it while making it make sense. Also I may draw pretty slow but I write even slower!! Eh I’m sure I’ll post some of it sometime) for the time being so I should theoretically be able to finish up my bigger projects now. Maybe I’ll have the valentines ready in time for white day? We’ll see!